Thanksgiving? Evil. We give thanks for the rapes perpetuated by armed white men. We give thanks for the eradication of native peoples by armed white men. We give thanks for the enslavement of persons of color by armed white men. We give thanks for a culture of oppression built and maintained by armed white men. We give thanks for the white God created and protected by armed white men. We give thanks for armed white men. Thanksgiving? Evil.

Spoiled.

Our children know not to blindly accept the histories they are fed at school. After being immersed in multiple classic problematic stories about Thanksgiving, my son came home and wanted to know the truth. I didn’t hesitate. “The true story of Thanksgiving is genocide.” “What does that mean again?” “Armed white men from Europe got off of boats in America and killed as many native people as they could…as rapidly as they could…until they had complete power. To talk about what happened in any other way is to erase the truth.” “Do my teachers know about these armed white men?” “Of course they do…but people are afraid to engage the truth.” “I’m not. Don’t you say that God and truth go together?” “I do.” “I’m sticking with God on this one.” Spoiled food makes us sick. Spoiled history does as well. Which is exactly what everybody is going to be consuming with all of this armed white men triumphalism that is wrapped up in Thanksgiving.

Raw.

The armed white man waited in the darkness. Cars sped past the officer as if he wasn’t there. Nobody could see him. I was sitting at the gas station and wondered what he was waiting on. Then, a car slowly travels by. When they came to a stop right in front of me, I figured out quickly what he was looking for. There was a young white girl driving and a young black girl in the passenger seat. He approached the car with his hand on his gun. Before he even asked for license and registration, he wanted to know what they were doing together. By this point, I already had my phone out the window. He didn’t notice at first. He declared that this was all about a dim headlight. I knew what that shit was code for. He was growing more and more aggressive. So, I screamed out, “I’m filming!” I was full of shit. My battery was actually dead. Then, he turned his attention to me. “What are you doing?” I just kept holding my phone. Eventually, he gave them a ticket and burned a tire next to my car. When it was all over, I drove over to make sure the victims were ok. Immediately, they both declared, “You saved our lives!” There was no way I was going to take credit for that. I did tell them that there are forces much more powerful than armed white men. “Now, that’s something to be thankful for.”